Firefighters place the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel, where cardinals will gather to elect the new pope, at the Vatican. The conclave date was set during a vote by the College of Cardinals, who have been meeting all week to discuss the church's problems and priorities, and the qualities the successor to Pope Benedict XVI must possess.

Artists dressed as the Hindu Lord Shiva read a message on a mobile phone as they prepare to participate in a religious procession ahead of the Mahashivratri festival in Jammu, Nepal. Hindu women across the country celebrate Mahashivratri, better known as Lord Shiva's wedding anniversary, so that their husbands will be blessed with long lives.

Anti-nuclear activists take part in a street performance during a protest in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei. Tens of thousands of anti-nuclear activists around Taiwan marched the streets to urge the government to terminate the controversial fourth nuclear power plant project and to stop using nuclear power.

A Balinese family stand at the beach as they attend the Melasti ceremony prayer at Gianyar beach on the Indonesian island of Bali. Melasti is a purification ritual held a day before Nyepi (or the Day of Silence). During Nyepi, Hindus in Bali observe a day of meditation and fasting, and are not allowed to work, cook, light lamps or participate in any activity.

In this photo released by Miraflores Press Office, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad kisses the flag-draped coffin of late Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez during the funeral ceremony at the military academy in Caracas, Venezuela, Mar. 8, 2013.

Egyptian soccer fans of Al-Ahly club celebrate in front of their club headquarters in Cairo after an Egyptian court announced a verdict confirming death sentences against 21 people for their role in a deadly 2012 soccer riot that killed more than 70 people in the city of Port Said.

Fans scream as singer Justin Bieber appears at the window of a hotel in central London. The singer recently had a check-up in hospital after suffering breathing problems while performing on stage in the capital, during his tour.